Inbetween Days
by MorganFerdinand
Summary: Written for the house of cooper on LJ Ficathon. Assignment: Something that shows Gwen pulling the team together during Jack's absence, bonus for making this funny and not angsty.


Toshiko Sato leaned back and ran a grease-sticky hand through her hair while she examined the new PVC pipe that led to the sink by the coffee machine. _Shit_, she thought when she realised what she'd done, and then decided a little more muck in her hair wasn't going to hurt anything.

It'd been thirty-two hours since some alien teenagers had thought it would be funny to detonate small explosives in Cardiff's sewer system. Unfortunately the effect was much messier than the more common "chucking bangers down the pipes". The resulting earthquake had done structural damage to the Hub and thoroughly disrupted the plumbing.

At least it was easy to send them home. They were out of here before Owen could finish his threat to call their parents. Tosh sighed and gave the pipe one final twist. On the bright side, the plumbing had really needed an upgrade.

It also caused a mini tidal wave in Cardiff Bay. She looked across the room. Ianto, stripped down to his tee-shirt and mud-caked trousers, was on the phone, still trying desperately to locate some sort of machinery that would hoover up the water that had overflowed the tidal pool. Apparently they weren't the only people trying to deal with plumbing and leakage problems.

Gwen sat in Jack's office trying to explain to someone in the media that the explosion had really been an earthquake, and that there was no reason to worry. Damage had been minimal, she assured the reporter on the other end of the phone line, and really it wasn't like Cardiff had never had an earthquake before, so why was everyone so curious?

"Little green men in Cardiff? I think some of your staff might have hit their heads in the shakeup! There's no such thing as aliens." She lied smoothly. She almost sounded like she believed it herself. "Right, just an earthquake. Yes. Yes. Oh, you to, sir. Take care now. Bye."

Gwen hung up the phone and buried her face in her hands. "Ianto! How difficult would it be to Retcon all of Cardiff City?"

Ianto had given up on his phone call and was bailing muddy water from the floor back into the tidal pool. He looked up and cast his eyes toward the ceiling. "It would take about..."

Gwen waved a hand as she left Jack's office."I was kidding, Ianto. We can't do that to everyone."

"Not again, no," he agreed and dropped his bucket, ignoring Gwen's wide-eyed stare and the obvious question on her lips. "I think this is the best I can do until the tide goes out. Maybe the mud will be easier to deal with when it's a bit drier."

Owen sauntered out of the lavatory and dropped a dirty rag on Tosh's desk. "Sink in there's still leaking, love. Might want to go have a look at it." He didn't even look at her when he spoke to her.

"I'm still busy with the intake lines. Why can't you do it?"

"Hello? I'm a doctor?" He held up his hands, palms facing away from Tosh, and wiggled his fingers. "Can't risk damage to my hands?"

The wrench narrowly missed his shoulder and landed with a wet, sucking sound in the mud.

"Hey! You almost hit me!"

"Better luck next time," Tosh muttered under her breath as she picked up her tools and plumbing tape.

"Where the hell did you disappear to last night?" Gwen snapped.

"Ianto, get me a coffee." Owen stood just outside Jack's office, feet planted slightly apart and his arms folded across his chest. He stared at Gwen."I didn't realise I was supposed to report to you."

Gwen stood in front of him, mirroring his posture. "Well any of us, then! You could've told Tosh or Ianto. You could've _helped_ us."

"I _did_ help! I got the aliens to shove off, didn't I. I don't see what else I could've done."

"Owen, people were _scared_. They were _injured_. A doctor might've been useful."

"I'm not the only doctor in Cardiff," he shrugged and looked around for Ianto and his coffee, oblivious to the fact that Gwen was looking daggers at him.

Gwen shoved his shoulder. He winced in pain. "Careful! Still not completely healed, you know."

"Is that your excuse for just fucking off the rest of the night and then swanning in here fifteen minutes ago, like we're not knee-deep in shit?"

Owen dropped his voice and leaned in. "I thought I saw Jack. I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up, so I just went."

She covered her mouth with her hands. "Did you really? Was it him? Where's he gone?"

"Nah, wasn't him. Just some twat in a trenchcoat. In all the shit blowing around it looked like Jack's coat."

Ianto cleared his throat as he approached. He had seen the two of them standing very close together and didn't want to interrupt. "Here's your coffee, Owen. Gwen, someone from UNIT is on the line. Wants to know what happened and if they need to step in. Shall I tell them the earthquake story, or...?" He drew out the word, waiting for a suggestion.

Gwen turned away rapidly, putting her back to Ianto. Getting the barest flicker of hope that Jack had returned and then losing that hope so quickly had made her tear up. It wouldn't do to let the others see that. "I'll handle it, Ianto. Thank you." She turned to go back into Jack's office, then paused. "When I'm off this call, we're all going to Ikea. It's time to fix this place up a little. Especially now that everything's covered in mud."

Ianto tucked his hands into the pockets of his trousers. Owen sipped his coffee and hummed. It was that disturbing hum he made when he was thinking. Ianto took a discreet step away from Owen.

"Why's Gwen acting like she's the boss of us?" He murmured. Ianto assumed it was meant to be rhetorical and stayed quiet. "Who died and left her in charge?" Owen said, louder this time, clearly seeking some sort of reply.

"Jack did," Ianto said flatly. There was just the slightest downward pull of his mouth. It converted into a smug smile as he withdrew his right hand from his pocket and held up an envelope. "When he actually _was_ dead. I was looking for some paperwork on his desk and found this."

Scowling, Owen took the note.

"Ianto," Owen read aloud, "If you're reading this it's because you're snooping through my desk. If you're snooping through my desk because I'm missing, dead, or captured, Gwen is in charge of things until I get back. If you're snooping through my desk to find those photos I too—".

Ianto snatched the note away before Owen could continue. Red-faced, he put the letter back in his pocket. "Anyhow, Gwen's in charge."

"And she knows this?" Owen asked.

"Yep."

"And you're okay with this?

"Captain's orders," Ianto said as he patted his pocket.

"Well fuck me," Owen grumbled.

"Not tonight dear. I have a headache," Ianto replied, deadpan. He turned casually and walked off. Owen stared after him for just a few seconds before he shook his head and went toward the medical bay.


End file.
